I was an optimist, a great champion of the human spirit. And I lost that for a time. I feel like I’ve regained a bit of that in the last few years but there was a period of my life in which I had a very low opinion of people in general.
I sometimes shy away because I don’t want to be too ‘showy-offy’ but the older I get I think, ‘You have a handkerchief, put it in your pocket.’
I think the message of peace is for everyone.
I need someone to give me a part where I play the piano so I can learn it. I would love that.
The only film I ever made for money was something called Music From Another Room, which I really didn’t like.
A job is not just a job. It’s who you are.
I don’t want to do anything that I’m not passionate about.
I honestly have no interest in celebrity whatsoever. If anything, I always cringe at it because it takes away from what I am, which is an actor who wants to be better and do better things.
I suppose I’m intrigued with the bad traits of society, because I’m a part of society, and the bad traits pose the dangerous questions for our future.
I think it’s a bigger risk following a part that plays up your looks than it is to try and carve out a career as an actor.
I feel more and more at ease, because I think the older I get, the less pressure there is. People say, ‘Well, he’s not cutting edge because he’s not in his twenties, so he’s not expected to be.’
I’ve always liked what Thomas More said in Utopia, which is that in Utopia every person is allowed their own lifestyle and religion but no one is allowed to stand on a soapbox and tell others that theirs is right. I thought that was brilliant. Brilliant.
I only want to do the kind of work that I would like to go and see, that’s going to teach me something new, that involves working with people I can learn something from and I can give something to.
The greatest gift an actor can have is not revealing who he is but through the parts he plays. Unfortunately, we live in a world where everyone wants to know everything all the time and I think it takes away part of the fun of acting that we have to go through that all the time.
I’m only wanted by directors for the image I give off, and it makes me angry. I always wanted to be an actor and not a beauty pageant winner.
There are always seasons to a career and perhaps always the grass is often greener, you’re often looking at other people’s careers going, “Damn, they get all the good roles. Why didn’t I read that? Why didn’t they ask me to do that?”
When someone like Steven Soderbergh asks you to do a film you know you’re in good hands. You know it’s going to be slick, and it’s going to be intelligent, and it’s going to have a kind of style to it, and I would probably have done anything to be really honest.
I’m a massive comic book fan. I was buying weekly installments of “The Watchmen”, and “From Hell”, and “Parallax” and “Johnny Nemo”. I was a huge comic book fan as a kid and I still am. Me and my youngest son are both comic book nerds together; make models and stuff.
If there is a will there is a way.
When you got source material, whether it’s a play or a book – a great writer often appreciates being adapted and developed. It’s like when you go see a production of a great play and they are always different. There is always room for interpretation.
Every so often you get to play wonderful characters maybe at the wrong time in your life. Sometimes, you get to play terrible characters at a really great time in your life. Sometimes, the right character comes along at the right time.